Most athletic shoes used for field sports, such as football, soccer, and lacrosse, have a number of tapered or blade-like cleats for the purpose of increasing traction. Cleats dig into the turf to prevent slipping during starting, stopping, and cutting maneuvers.
Such cleats, however, inhibit certain common pivoting actions, such as foot actions during the changing of directions. Indeed, such cleats make a player susceptible to injuries, particularly common knee injuries, if his leg is forcibly twisted when the cleats have penetrated well into the turf.
Attempts have been made in the past to make a cleated shoe which would accommodate pivoting movements and reduce the aforesaid injury problems. Examples of such prior attempts include the shoes shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,072,794, 2,261,785, 2,677,905, and 3,816,945.
Some prior art athletic shoes, such as that shown in the last of these patents, have been designed to improve pivoting by providing a rotatable cleat. This approach presents a serious problem in that the rigors of field sports will easily damage such constructions. This approach, therefore, is deemed impractical in most cases. Some other prior patents, such as the first three of these patents, have disclosed fixed annular cleats. This invention relates generally to constructions of this latter type.
Shoes of the prior art which have included annular cleats have failed to provide adequate gripping action and/or have failed to provide adequate pivoting action for several specific reasons. Such shoes have not been accepted by athletes and have not been widely in use. The athletic shoe of this invention overcomes these problems.
The deficiencies of the prior art and the unique characteristics and advantages of this invention can most easily be described with reference to the foot of the athlete. The sole of the foot includes four basic portions. These are, in order back to front: the heel portion; the arch portion; the ball-of-the-foot portion; and the toe portion. The heel portion and the ball-of-the-foot portion are those portions which share most if not all of the player's weight when the player is in a normal standing position with his feet generally flat on the ground. In such position, the arch portion bears little if any weight, and the toe portion bears little if any weight.
When a player is "on his toes" in a "ready" position, virtually all of the player's weight is normally shared by the toe portion and the ball-of-the-foot portion. The same is usually true when a player is "digging" in a running action. Indeed, when a player is in the ready position the juncture of the phalanges (toe bones) and the metatarsles is the center of weight bearing. In other words, the center of weight bearing in the forward portions of the foot actually moves forward when a player shifts to the ready position.
The sole of an athletic shoe has portions immediately below such four foot portions which may be designated, and herein are designated, by the same terms.
Prior art shoes having annular cleating fail to function properly at least in part because of grossly improper placement of an annular cleat--much too far back from the juncture of the toe and ball-of-the-foot portions where weight is centered in the ready position. Indeed, in the ready position, normally the only position in which pivoting is important, such prior shoes would pivot little better than shoes with the standard blade-like or tapered cleats.
Further affecting the performance of at least some of such prior art shoes with annular cleats is the fact that a raised portion is enclosed by the annular cleat, thus preventing significant penetration of the turf and limiting the available traction. Another drawback of the prior art is the small width of such annular cleats, which in prior art cleating arrangements gives less than desirable pivoting and gripping.
Without further elaboration on the shortcomings of prior athletic shoes, it can be said that prior shoes have failed to provide a combination of good traction and good pivotability. Therefore, the standard cleated soles have continued in use, with the risks and occurrences of knee injuries and other injuries due to improper pivoting continuing substantially unabated. For years there has been a strong, unsatisfied need for an improved athletic shoe for field sports.